


Return

by madders



Series: Out Of Gas AU [3]
Category: Firefly
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-11
Updated: 2012-07-11
Packaged: 2017-11-09 15:58:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/457307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madders/pseuds/madders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Inara's shuttle had come back to Serenity first in Out of Gas? </p><p>SPOILERS for Out Of Gas</p>
            </blockquote>





	Return

Jayne watched as Serenity loomed larger and larger in the viewscreen. Inara glanced at him briefly, frowning before returning her attention to the controls. It hadn't been all that difficult to convince them to turn around, none of them had been all that happy with leaving anyway, and so when Kaylee had sniffled and said how much she wished that they had never left the Cap'n alone, Jayne had spoken softly, suggesting that they should go back. Book and Kaylee had agreed readily, but Inara had taken longer to convince. Finally however, just before they reached the point of no return, they had made the turn, heading back as fast as they dared.

Now, seeing Serenity sitting still in space, engines throwing off their soft glow, Jayne knew that they had done the right thing, but still, something was niggling at him.

"Try it again." Book murmured from his position on the other side of Inara.

She reached down and flipped the switch, opening the com channel to Serenity.

"Inara to Serenity. Mal, are you there?"

Nothing came back from the com except static.

Jayne clenched his fists, cursing every minute that he had left Mal alone. 

"We'll be with you in a few minutes." Inara spoke into the com again. "We'll see you soon." She half-whispered, shutting the transmitter off.

Book turned to Jayne, his expression grim. "It's not like the Captain not to answer us."

Kaylee shuffled in between them, holding onto Inara's chair as if it was the only thing holding her up. "Maybe the Cap'n's not on the bridge. The fire blew out wires all over the place; the com might not be working elsewhere on Serenity."

Book patted her gently on the shoulder. "Let's pray that you're right Kaylee."

Jayne said nothing. He just looked out at Serenity one more time before turning and heading for Vera. You never could be too careful.

***

The shuttle docked and the door hissed open, but Jayne held Kaylee back. Serenity's engines might've been sending out their soft thrumming once more, but she was still awful silent. The shuttle would've made a fair amount of noise when it docked, so rightly Mal should've been there waiting.

Jayne looked around the edge of the hatch before stepping onto the catwalk, looking around and down at the cargo bay. Nothing looked to be different to when they left it, yet it was still too quiet. And where was Mal?

Jayne let Inara and Kaylee follow him, Book following at the rear, one of Jayne’s guns tucked in the back of his pants, just in case.

Slowly Jayne made his way down towards the floor of the cargo bay, walking softly just in case someone was hiding out from them. When they reached the deck Jayne took a look around before relaxing a little, seemingly satisfied that there was no danger.

Kaylee moved up to stand beside him, peering around the cargo bay with wide eyes.

“Cap’n ain’t here.” She stated the obvious.

“Nope.” Jayne agreed, still looking around. It wasn’t right; something was off about the place.

“Perhaps the Captain is with the engine still as you thought Kaylee.” Book spoke, stopping on her other side.

“Well let’s go look.” She bounced, before heading off in the direction of the engine room.

“Kaylee wait!” Inara called, chasing after her, followed by Book.

Jayne didn’t move, his attention caught by something on the cargo bay floor. He turned and walked over to it, ignoring the other three.

He crouched down and took a better look, running his gloved fingers through the viscous substance and raining them to his nose to smell. He stood abruptly and spun around, just as Kaylee’s panicked call sounded out from the engine room.

“Jayne. There’s so much blood!”

***  
Jayne moved away from the bloody handprint, heading in the direction of the Infirmary. He didn’t bother with the engine room, Mal obviously wasn’t in there.

He saw the blood on the doorframe first, frowning as he realized just how badly Mal had to have been hurt, and wondering how on earth he had managed to get injured so badly on a ship all by his lonesome. A quick glance in the room showed it to be empty, although Jayne spotted the dripped blood on the counter and floors, and the large discarded needle like the one the Doc had used earlier on Zoë.

Spinning around once more, Jayne tried to work out where on earth Mal could’ve gotten to. It wasn’t as if he could’ve just vanished. He realized and nearly kicked himself for not thinking of it before as he turned and ran. He heard Book call to him from the passageway as he made his way to the infirmary, but paid him no mind, something in his gut telling him he had to hurry.

He half fell up the steps, rushing headlong towards the bridge, every rapid beat of his heart warning him to move faster. He barely noticed the bloody handprints on the doors and bulkheads as they lead him towards Mal. By the time he reached the bridge he was moving so fast that he almost tripped right over the Captain, barely managing to stop himself in time.

He dropped to his knees beside the prone figure and reached out a shaky hand to touch him, almost too scared to find him dead.

He let his fingers touch Mal’s shoulder, pulling them away just as quickly and ripping off his leather gloves before touching him again; frowning at the coldness he could feel. Gripping his arm gently Jayne shook him, calling to him softly.

“Mal?”

He frowned and shook him harder, trying to get a response, closing his eyes and sending a brief prayer up to Book’s God and Inara’s Buddha.

Leaning over him more fully this time, Jayne used his other hand to carefully roll Mal onto his back. Mal’s head rolled and Jayne swore as he saw the blood coating his face and hands. Then he looked over the rest of Mal’s body and saw the wet, sticky blood coating his side and cursed loudly.

“Tianna.”

“Shepherd!” He yelled behind him, even as he reached down and pressed one hand to the wound, the other trying to find Mal’s pulse. He’d seen the Doc do this before, although he wasn’t rightly sure how to do it himself.

Instead he leaned down and pressed his ear to Mal’s chest, barely detecting the rhythmic thump of his heart.

Book rushed onto the bridge, quickly followed by Inara and Kaylee. The small space became quickly crowded, and Jayne fought the urge to knock them all away from Mal to keep him safe.

The Shepherd seemed to sense his thoughts and laid a gentle hand on Jayne’s back, grounding him.

“Come on Son; let’s get him to the infirmary.”

Jayne didn’t lift his head to respond, merely nodding his head before taking a deep breath and straightening up. Book urged Kaylee to go and prepare the infirmary and Inara to go and call the other shuttle whilst Jayne slowly and carefully took Mal in his arms and lifted him up.

Turning, Jayne felt the Shepherd’s hand return to his back, steadying him as he carried his heavy burden towards the infirmary.


End file.
